I bought a used Kifaru Express for use as a winter SAR pack. Pack is great it just has a weird smell. Not horrible I'm just used to a "neutral" melling pack. None of my other Kifaru's or MR packs have this scent. All of the pockets and such that came with it smell the same. Guy I bought it from says he never washed it, I thought it may be scented detergent. Any ideas on how to get the smell back to neutral?

After a year of daily use my kit bag was getting pretty manky. I just ran it through the washing machine with the no-odor or dyes detergent I use for everything else. It came out looking new and didn't smell sour anymore. I would give that a shot and if it didn't work start looking at some kind of odor eater spray.

Co-Owner Hill People Gear
"If anything goes wrong it will be a fight to the end, if your training is good enough, survival is there; if not nature claims its foreit." - Dougal Haston

I agree that the washing machine will work in most cases. Use caution however with well used or old bags and packs. A couple of times I have washed old day packs to neutralize the odors only to find that the rubberized coating or liner on the inside of the pack has de-laminated and is all over the place. Just a thought!

Just received my recon kit bag to be used as a survival kit on board a medivac Helicopter in the WY high country. I love the bag but it has a strange and unpleasant smell that fills the cabin. I’m wondering if HillPeopleGear are using some sort of preserving agent or chemical. Also does HPG recommend any specific cleaning methods to preserve the qualities of the fabric?

This is the stuff I use during hunting season and on a lark, I used it once on a smelly tent that sat downwind of a campfire too long. It took half a dozen sprayings, but I eventually got ALL the wood smoke odor out of the tent. Since then, I've used it with good success on all sorts of things.

We don't use anything on the bags. It is just the smell of the new materials. I wonder if you are sensitive to it? Do new cordura products normally bug you? I usually just throw stuff in the washer on cold cold regular wash whe n I am doing laundry then hang dry. Of course the detegent I use is no dyes or odors stuff.

Co-Owner Hill People Gear
"If anything goes wrong it will be a fight to the end, if your training is good enough, survival is there; if not nature claims its foreit." - Dougal Haston

After a deployment I used to just take all of my kit to the carwash, rinse it well, maybe let it dry in the sun. UV is a good disinfectant, though it is harmful long term to nylon. Hydrogen peroxide helps break down blood. Mirazyme is good for getting out BO.

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